Coming Soon, Visa-Free Beijing Visits

Good news for travelers who have always wanted to see the Chinese capital, just not badly enough to go through all the trouble of getting a visa: Starting New Year’s Day, foreigners will be allowed to stay in Beijing without a visa for 72 hours.

The new rule, hinted at back in May, is aimed at making tourism a “strategic pillar of the economy,” the state-run China Daily said, citing the Beijing Tourism Administration.

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Visitors approach the Forbidden City in Beijing. Soon, some tourists will be able to visit China’s capital without a visa.

The visa-free offer is only available to passengers from a list of 45 approved countries who are in transit, meaning travelers will have to show they have a plane ticket to a third country before being allowed out of the airport and into Beijing. The U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and most of Europe are on the approved list.

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By allowing foreign visitors to deplane with only a passport for a full three days, Beijing will be one-upping rival Shanghai, which for years has offered 48 hours of visa-free roaming to foreign visitors.

The southern island province of Hainan, sometimes optimistically referred to by tourism authorities as “China’s Hawaii,” offers 21 days without a visa, but only for people who travel with tour groups.

Shanghai, which is now contemplating extending its visa-free rule to 72 hours, hasn’t seen much of a tourist windfall from its current policy. Less than 3,000 visitors took advantage of the offer in 2010, according to the state-run Shanghai Daily.

But with two world-class attractions in the Forbidden City and the Great Wall, Beijing is arguably a much bigger draw for leisure tourists, and the extra 24 hours could make a big difference. The allotted three days is just about enough time to swing by the monumental must-sees, eat a helping or two of Peking duck, do a little shopping and maybe sneak in a stroll through the city’s charming hutong.

The potential boost to Beijing’s tourism sector is obvious. Beijing currently gets about 5 million foreign visitors a year, and each spends about $1000, state media said. According to Airports Council International, nearly 47 million people passed through Beijing International Airport between January and October, making it the second-busiest airport in the world after Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson.

Beijing Jiaotong University tourism professor Zhang Hui, quoted in China Daily, called the visa waiver a “giant step forward” that would be of particular benefit to tour companies targeting businessmen.

“Those on business trips usually don’t have sightseeing plans, so they’re free to explore when they have time,” Zhang told the newspaper. “However, the relatively tight visa restrictions China now adopts only put potential visitors off.”

State media didn’t say why Beijing decided to limit the visa-free period to 72 hours, though China Real Time can’t help but wonder if they might have been thinking of the famous Benjamin Franklin quip: “Fish and visitors stink after three days.”

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